Make It
by Ronadir
Summary: A fic covering Chie and Souji's budding yet uncertain relationship during that year in Inaba. Souji may look the part of a perfectly nice guy, but beneath the surface is a life too shaped by separation and shallow bonds to ever allow anyone in again. He didn't choose Inaba. He didn't choose Chie Satonaka. He will, in time, and against his own expectations - come to love both.
1. Happen - ARC I, Chapter 1

**ARC 1: Make It Happen**

* * *

The desk beside Chie had been empty for a good few weeks now. The last person to sit on it was a girl named Tanakawa: bespectacled, not particularly cheerful or quiet, and was a top student of the class, second only to Chie's friend Yukiko. Though she had been sitting next to Tanakawa since the start of the year, Chie never really got to knew her. She'd always had been too busy studying to speak or hang out, and before Chie knew it, she transferred to some boarding school.

Looking at that empty desk beside her jogged that memory, as Chie rested her head on her hand, supporting herself on one elbow. The class had been busy chattering about the new transfer student that was coming in from the city. She overheard some girls gossiping about him - confirmed to be a him - speculating on whether he'd be cute or not. Chie didn't really bother, and her friend Yukiko in front of her cared even less.

Still, she wouldn't lie - it _did_ cross her mind that if this possibly cute transfer student were to sit anywhere for the rest of her years at school, it'd be right next to her. She brushed away the thought - even if this cute transfer student sat next to her, he wouldn't notice her anyway. Given that he'd have to pass by Yukiko to reach her, that was a done guarantee.

Chie looked straight ahead at Yukiko's back, the light coming from the windows reflecting off her long hair - giving off a lovely sheen. She's almost ethereal in how pretty she looks that sometimes even Chie has to realise it, despite all her years of knowing Yukiko since they were kids. It's no wonder all the boys have their eyes on her, considering that really weird and creepy Amagi Challenge they came up with.

_She'd catch his sights the moment he enters the room!_ Chie thought, her sigh followed by a little smile, unseen by her friend. She wondered when Yukiko would just go and pick someone to be her boyfriend already, but knowing her, it'd sure take a while.

She turned her attention to a boy sitting behind her, looking utterly drained, slumped on his desk like a used rag.

"A transfer student from the city… Just like you, huh Yosuke?" said Chie.

All Chie hears is a dragged-out groan in response.

"Huh? You look dead today," she said, trying to discern if he even understood what she had said.

"Yeah, um… I don't wanna talk about it…" came Yosuke's voice, strained.

His sorry condition seemed to have caught Yukiko's attention, who turned around to inspect.

"What's with him?" said Chie.

"Who knows?" replied Yukiko, in a tone that was completely innocent and yet disparately unconcerned about Yosuke's state of well-being.

"Awright, shut your traps!" yelled the homeroom teacher from the front of the class, reminding Chie of the terrible fate she and her two friends have been thrown to. Out of all the faculty, they had to be stuck with Mr. Morooka as homeroom teacher. Loud, obnoxious and generally unpleasant, Morooka was unofficially voted the least popular member of the teaching staff, and was dubbed King Moron by the students. While many of Yasogami High's teacher's were pretty loopy, they mostly meant well and were fully capable as educators.

Mr. Morooka, however, was the reason Chie and her fellow classmates ponder the reason why anyone would pick a line of work they were so ridiculously _unhappy _to be in. While Morooka was going on about nothing important, Chie passed the time wondering whether Yosuke had brought the copy of _Trial of the Dragon_ that she lent him, until finally the man got around to introducing the transfer student. And as if by cue, in the transfer student walked.

His jacket was unbuttoned, his collar was popped up, and his hair was a lustrous silver - but oddly enough, his demeanour didn't fit his otherwise outlandish appearance. He seemed really calm and collected, and even had a very non-threatening vibe about him - approachable, even. It juxtaposed really weirdly against his gangsterly way of dress.

_This oughta be interesting…_ thought Chie, trying to ignore the fact that she noticed all that about him and he hadn't even been in the class long enough to introduce himself. She tapped Yukiko's shoulder, and she leaned back, still looking forward at the transfer student as everyone else was.

"That's one weird-looking transfer student, huh?" she whispered.

"He does look… interesting," Yukiko whispered back in tentative thought before sitting forward again.

Agreeing, Chie leaned back into her seat. What she had neglected to say to Yukiko, and instead had kept to herself, was the thought of _Well, they were right. He is pretty cute…_ that she promptly shooed away.

"Nice to meet you all," said the transfer student, his voice even, but not too monotone. His gaze, though blank, was somewhat purposeful. He didn't look lost, or even at all nervous like other transfer students would, as if he's gone through this a million times before. "I'm Souji Seta."

Chie looked at this new student while Mr. Morooka was starting up another tirade. He looked like he was scanning the class, probably for an empty seat. Feeling kinda sorry for the guy, Chie took a deep breath, pursed her lips and shot up her hand.

"Excuse me!"

Both Morooka and the transfer student, Seta, turned their attention to her. She quickly got to her point.

"Is it okay if the transfer student sits here?"

"Huh? Yeah sure," said Morooka, making a huge wave with his arm and giving a harsh point at the empty seat next to Chie. "There's yer seat, so hurry up and siddown, will ya?!"

Giving a short nod, the transfer student takes on a consistent stride towards Chie, and takes his seat next to her that was formerly Tanakawa's. Once seated, and Morooka's eyes are off him, he relaxes his shoulders and almost melts into his seat, giving off a very soft, almost inaudible sigh - like he had to let his breath out but restrained it.

For some reason, it amused Chie, so she decided she'd be nice and let him settle into this situation a little easier. She leaned a little towards him, keeping her voice low, throwing glances at Morooka to make her point. "He's the worst, huh?"

The transfer student turned at her voice. He apparently didn't notice her on his way to the seat - probably wanting to get there first over trying to look at any of his new classmates.

"Rotten luck for you to get stuck in this class… Well, looks like we'll just have to hang in there for a year."

One whole year... imagine that. Chie almost looked forward to third year already. She'd let the year whoosh by if it meant skipping Morooka's boring lectures, and if it meant skipping finals as well, then all the better. The transfer student looked like he wanted to say something in the middle of her talking, but only nodded again once she finished, same as the short nod he gave Morooka. Polite, controlled.

"Understood."

The way he said it so seriously tickled Chie a little, lightening up the terrible mood Morooka set. He said it like a soldier would, and yet also like a nervous kid getting ready for his kindergarten debut. She let that amusement show on her face, hoping that it might cheer the transfer student up and put him at ease, if only a little - to dampen the blow that this unfortunate first day of school has dealt to him.

_This guy doesn't seem all too bad at all!_

* * *

I had a lot of colourful, though unpleasant teachers in the past, but this man takes the cake.

He had a hunched back, a noticeable overbite and a bad haircut, which somehow still managed to be mere window dressing compared to his rotten personality. I had to follow him into Class 2-2, the place I'll be in for the rest of the year.

That'd be the plan, anyway. It's not unusual for my parents to suddenly say I needed to pack up and transfer again - "ahead of schedule", so to say - but I try not to think about it that way. Expecting sudden departures in such a pessimistic way isn't very healthy.

It's not healthy, though it doesn't mean it doesn't get to me.

The unpleasant homeroom teacher, Morooka, opened the door to the class and crept in. I took a little time outside the bounds of the class doorway to practice my routine. I went over my introduction.

_Nice to meet you all. I'm Souji Seta._

Simple, boring, to the point. Just the way it should. I remembered what I'm supposed to do. Don't look at anyone in particular, but don't look lost either. Don't look around on the way to your seat. Don't stand out. Though I said I practiced it, I've gotten most of it down to intuition, so it's more like I ran it quickly through my head to prep myself up. I took a breath, not too deep, and stepped in.

I made my way into the class and towards Morooka's desk. Still, despite keeping my eyes straight ahead, I hadn't even turned yet when a flash of green caught the corner of my vision.

During Mr. Morooka's non-too-favourable introduction of me, I found out the striking green colour belonged to a short-haired girl in a bright sports jacket. From what I could see, she was certainly cute, but then again, so was the girl in front of her in the red cardigan, and one girl by the window, and another near the front…

They were all cute, I decided. All of them were.

The word _were_ rang a little too loudly in my head, causing me to brush the thought off.

"Now I hate wasting my time, but I better introduce this transfer student," said Mr. Morooka. "This sad sack's been thrown from the big city out to the middle of nowhere like yesterday's garbage."

Despite my thoughts, it was really hard to ignore Morooka disparaging me in front of the whole class. I didn't want anyone to think highly of me, but taking it to its opposite extreme... well, was not exactly a welcome alternative.

"And he's just as much of a loser here as he was there, so you girls better not get any ideas about hitting on him!"

This guy was getting on my nerves.

"Tell 'em your name, kid, and make it quick."

A thought flashed onto my suggestion board for responses to say to this so-called teacher.

_You calling me a loser?_

Sure, it'd get me on his bad side for all the rest of my time here, but it doesn't really look like I need to do _much_ to tick him off anyway. So far, all I did was… come from a city. Plus... I'll only be here a year anyway.

_You calling me a loser?_

I parted my lips a little, a vindictive spark simmering in me. Part of me wanted to experiment with that first-day-of-class routine, or rather throw it out completely in this case. Maybe I'll set a domino effect in motion. Me standing up to the teacher that no doubt the rest of this class doesn't like. It breaks the ice between me and my classmates. A year is long enough to want to be on good terms with everyone, but conversely is short enough to not bother with the consequences of _not_ being on good terms with Morooka.

But then again, being on good terms with him doesn't sound likely. Nor, desirable.

_You calling me a loser?_

I decided I want to say it. I might even impress some of the people here. I can get through all the formality and get straight to normal conversation. I get to…

I get to…

_You calling me a loser?_

My vision lost focus for a moment in my glimmer of realisation. I looked forward again.

"Nice to meet you all," I said, showing a friendly smile. "I'm Souji Seta."

I guess he was, indeed, calling me a loser.

I let out a breath, deeper than usual, but not noticeable - I made sure it's not. I looked around the class, hoping to get a guess of where I'll be sitting. The only free seat was the one next to the short-haired girl in the jacket.

A little ember of hope crackled within me, even though I should know better than to let it catch fire in the first place. I let... _made_ my eyes stray to the other students. One of them, draped over the desk behind the girl, was a guy who looked like the one who crashed his bike earlier this morning.

"You better not even think of getting involved with the girls here, let alone abusing them!"

While Morooka continued his rant, another flash of green appeared. I turned my focus to the short-haired girl again, her long jacket sleeve raised.

"Excuse me! Is it okay if the transfer student sits here?"

Taking note of her, Morooka snapped at me to hurry up and take my seat. I just nodded at him - like I do to all teachers regardless - and made my way. Didn't look at anyone else, and sat down. Finally out of the class stage, I let myself relax a little and let out another breath, being careful to keep it down so nobody - not Morooka, not anybody - would noti-

"He's the worst, huh?"

I turned my attention to the somewhat familiar voice. It was the short-haired girl, her voice much softer this time. Up close... she really was cute.

"Rotten luck for you to get stuck in this class…"

_Not from where I'm sitting_, I wanted to say, but I caught myself, chiding myself for thinking up such a creepy response on the fly.

"Well, looks like we'll just have to hang in there for a year," she continued. She looked pretty concerned, but I was almost certain it was played up. She seemed like an expressive sort. _Probably just wants to break the ice and get the awkward introductions over and done with_. Because of this, I didn't pay her much heed.

I wasn't in the mood to give her a response, and this of all days would be one day where she'd understand if I didn't. Still, something flared in me, unsatisfied I couldn't stand up for myself against the homeroom teacher. In any case, I wanted people to at least be pleased by my presence, not treat me like an outcast. It's times like these that I'm thankful I somehow have this knack for coming up with appropriate (or at least not _terrible_) responses to things in record reaction time.

Whether I said them or _not_, that was a different matter - but this time, I did.

"Understood."

I was looking straight ahead, but I could see from the corner of my view that the girl was smiling at my response. It was just a little smile, but it was a nice one, warm even. It... hit me a little deeper than I would have expected it to.

It made me feel a little bad for sizing her up and making assumptions on what her personality was - and a little manipulative for hand-picking my responses, instead of just saying what was natural to say.

But hand-picking responses is the only way I've ever responded to anything. So, sorry, short-haired girl…

But I don't know any other way how. And there's no way I'd expect anyone to teach me how.

There's no way I'd let them.

* * *

**A/N: **Hello again, fellas. I'm back with some more Persona stuff, and more Chie/Souji of course. I actually was trying to decide whether to go with his new name Yu Narukami, or stick with Souji Seta. I'm just so used to Souji as his name that I always picture the _game_ character when I use it, and thus my take of him as I both play through P4 and write fanfics depicting him. Yu is a name I connect almost exclusively with his anime depiction, which is really quite different from what I pictured, obviously.

But alas, I figured I had to get with the times, so I went with Yu. Let me know if you prefer Souji yourself, as I don't mind editing and replacing his name while it's still early.

Anyway, yeah. This fic covers the events of the game (whether the original P4 or Golden is still to be decided, as I haven't played Golden's events first-hand to really know them), and is expanded on my depiction of the main character (Souji then) in my older fic _Matching Wristbands_. At this point, I'm not sure if I'll be going with a pretty close full adaptation of the game, or just highlight certain events. We'll see.

What I'm doing here is not just exploring the dynamics of Chie and Yu's relationship, but I'll also be diving into Chie's view of both him and the events of the game, along with exploring what my take on Yu/Souji is and what his supposed blank-slate past really is, which I think is a route not many people take. The rest of the Investigation Team will definitely be there, as I like them **way** too much to make it _only_ about Chie and Yu.

Special thanks go to MirrorImage27, for writing _The Kingpin and the Carnivore_, which is my inspiration for attempting a Yu and Chie-POV story, _Open_ by Domomomo, which inspired me to cover the events of the game with a Chie/Yu-centred view, and The Unknown Warrior 11 for writing _One More Dance -_ the fic that finally made me get off my hiatus and get started on this idea (which I had since I first read the earlier fics in 2011! Note that _One More Dance_ was published this year, **2014.** :p).

Last but definitely not least, I want to thank my pal skywolf666 for her amazing story, _Together_, which is still hands-down my favourite Chie/Yu fic ever. She's my truest Chie/MC comrade. B]

**Disclaimer: **

The writing switches between Chie and MC, and may also differ between first-person and third-person view (like the 3rd-person Chie and 1st-person Yu you see in this chapter) by chapter. I ask that you forgive me if I switch too often - I'm trying to see whose mind I need to get into more, and I find first-person view easier for that. It was pretty important that Yu be written 1st-person here to show the workings of his mind, but I think from here on out Chie will be the one helming the main, more personal POV. Please bear with me as this fic is more of a spontaneous exploration than a planned-out story.

**EDIT:** So I went ahead and switched it to Souji Seta. We'll see how it holds up. I don't really mind, and I actually somewhat got used to Yu Narukami already by this point, but I'm so neutral about it by now that I figured I'd let you- the audience - decide what's comfortable for you to read.


	2. Chapter 2: What a Gal!

I was still thinking about that strange dream, even though I didn't really have any business doing so. But washing my face at the sink in the men's room, waiting for next period to start... you just get to thinking without really meaning to... or wanting to.

That Igor fellow didn't have much good to say to me, but he had plenty that was cryptic. An imminent, terrible catastrophe... mystery... a contract... He said the coming year will be a turning point in my destiny, though right now it seems like anything but, which is how it always has been. He even went on to say my future could be lost... forever, if I don't solve this "mystery".

I shouldn't be over-thinking a _dream_, but it was so vivid that it's hard to even brush off once it enters my head, then it's like I'm there all over again. I could always remember my dreams quite well, but there was no way I could remember exact lines of conversations, in such precise order. Everything about it was ridiculous, but my own instincts betrayed me. It didn't feel right.

The "contract" part got to me. He said I'll be entering one soon. It felt like a responsibility. One that I felt - almost completely certain - would be way bigger than anything I could stomach, than I could handle - that I could even begin to comprehend. It weighed too heavily. I knew nothing of it and yet I could feel its gravity - grating against me, pressing against me. "Why me?" I thought. I'm no one special.

That _second_ dream with the figure in the fog didn't help either. In fact, it made things much worse. I thought that dream with Igor would be just that - a dream - for a while, but then _this_ had to enter my REM sleep, and I remembered every sensation, every word. The disorientation from the fog... the grip of my hands against the hilt of the sword that just appeared out of nowhere... It all felt too real, and yet... too unknown.

I just hoped that this year in Inaba would go by quickly, and after today, those dreams would be kind enough to stop. If not, well...

I don't know what I'd do. And it makes my stomach cave in.

I hate not knowing.

* * *

I just saw the new guy come in just in time for today's last class. He looked pretty out of it. I guess King Moron must've got to him pretty bad, or maybe it's just that the whole first-day-of-school thing was taking its toll on him. Still, he looked calm enough. I wouldn't have noticed anything if he didn't have all that sweat on his face. Water, maybe? Yikes.

When he came in and sat down next to me, just in time for King Moron to come in and start talking, I saw that it was just water. Phew! If that was sweat he must have some _really_ nasty stress problems. I guessed he was fine, so I didn't ask him about it.

"That's all for today. Normal lectures will start tomorrow."

Eventually, King Moron finally let us go, on a non-angry note at that! I dunno why, but I feel kinda pooped today, and it's just my first day! The holidays last year must've still been hanging onto me, though all I did was just mostly watching movies and going over to Yukiko's inn for a hot springs session that one time...

I stretched my arms above me, hoping to release those endorphins I just learned about, ready to leave until the school intercom stared chiming in, telling the teachers to go to some meeting. That was fine, but the bad part was that we couldn't leave class until they finished! Souzai Daigaku better not close by the time this stinking meeting's over!

King Moron turned and left, and I turned to the new guy, hoping he'd sympathise with my cause. "Aw, man. I was hoping we'd go off early today..."

He seemed like he was about to respond before the distant wail of sirens caught our attention, and we looked to the left window - the sound apparently coming from beyond, but not that far from where we were. Some guys went up to check, but they couldn't see anything through all the fog. How thick could it've been?

Something else quickly diverted my attention when I heard Yukiko's name being called. One of the guys from last year's class, Naraomi, was asking her something.

"Is it true that announcer's staying at your family's inn?"

Yukiko started fidgeting in her seat, head down. "I can't discuss such things."

"Y-Yeah, I guess not," he said before turning to leave just like that. Gee, thanks, you made it pretty clear that was all you waltzed up here for.

I started getting antsy, and the new guy was... taking a nap? He kinda just leaned back in his seat, closing his eyes. He looked like he was thinking of something, but all it did was make me ten times more bored. I got up and went over to Yukiko, letting out a drawn-out breath.

"Sheesh, how much longer is this gonna take?"

"There's no telling," she replied. Again like with Yosuke, she made it seem like she didn't care one bit, and yet said it in a way that it wouldn't even offend you. Typical Yukiko, I suppose...

"I should've left before the announcement came on..." Getting in time for Super Croquettes was probably out of the question now. I began internally fishing for something else to think about when it hit me. I lightened up, and it looked like Yukiko noticed too. "By the way, didja try what I told you the other day? You know... That thing about rainy nights..."

I almost couldn't believe it when I first found out! True, I just read it somewhere online, and even _I_ was smart enough to know that you shouldn't believe everything you read on the internet, but it was worth a shot, right? It didn't hurt to just stay up a while to see if it worked, plus, well... I guess Midnight Channel sounded pretty legitimate...?

I mean, if I came up with some scary midnight television broadcast, that's what _I'd_ call it, too. The Midnight Channel... Has a simple, yet effective ring to it.

Yukiko almost put a hand to her mouth, having that guilty look like whenever she had to cancel plans to work at the inn. "Oh... No, not yet. Sorry."

Argh, I half-expected that to happen, considering Yukiko's heavy schedule. I waved it off, gesturing with my hand.

"Ahhh, that's okay. It's just, I heard a guy in the class next door yell something like, 'My soulmate is Yamano, the announcer!'"

I threw my voice and made it deep to emphasise, waving my arms around. It got a chuckle outta Yukiko, and it even woke up the new guy, who straightened in his seat and looked at me. I lowered my arms back down, feeling pretty awkward. Normally, I wouldn't mind if anyone looked - otherwise I wouldn't even think of doing this kinda stuff in the first place - but he was the new guy, after all. The fancy city-boy transfer student, who was... well yeah kinda cute. First impressions matter, right?

...Don't they? Ahaha...

The intercom came back on, giving me a quick save. Now instead of telling us to stay put, they're saying we should leave immediately, since something happened in the school area and the police are checking it out. Oh sure, chase us out when all the _interesting_ stuff starts happening!

It didn't seem to stop some of the others, who wanted to try and check it out. As much as I wanted to tag along too, my tiredness won out and I decided to be happy to take orders from the speakerbox. I packed my bag, and Yukiko followed suit.

Feeling pretty confident all of a sudden - the relief of finally going back, taking a nice shower and watching _Trial of the Dragon_ again - since Yosuke's supposed to give it back today - I went over to the transfer student, who was getting ready to leave too.

"Hey, are you going home by yourself?"

"Yeah," he replied, giving another solid nod. He seemed to do that pretty often.

I put on my best face and decided to take this opportunity to get to know the guy better. He _is_ my desk buddy, after all, and will be for a pretty long time. What's more, Yukiko wasn't going to the inn today, so I could introduce her to him. He was apparently blind enough not to spot and be dazzled by her when he first came into class, and walked right past her. I wanted to remedy that. Heck, I'm probably doing him a favour.

"Why don't you come with us?" I nodded, trying to subliminally get him to give one too, since he seemed to do it so often.

It was then that I realised how stupid I was. I've been next to this guy the whole day!

"Oh, nearly forgot! I'm Chie Satonaka. You know I sit next to you, right?" I said, trying to laugh it off. _Trying_.

He gave another professional nod. "Of course." Damn. Was kinda hoping he made a joke or something out of that. I practically handed it to him on a skewer. Guess he's not that sort.

"Well, nice to meet you!" I pointed over to Yukiko, hoping to get my impromptu plan into motion. "This is Yukiko Amagi."

She started clamming up. "Oh, nice to meet you... I'm sorry that this is so sudden..."

What's so sudden?! That's not the reply I hoped for from you at all, Yukiko... I lightly slapped her on her shoulder. More like a pat, really.

"C'mon, don't apologise like that! It makes me look like I got no upbringing." I alternated my view between Yukiko and the transfer student. "I just wanted to ask some stuff. Really, that's all!"

All of a sudden, Yosuke came up to us. Oh, he remembered! Almost forgot to get it back. He looked pretty down, though. In a literal sense, like he wasn't even looking at any of us.

"Uh, um, Miss Satonaka?"

"Whoa, what's with the 'Miss'?" I realised he was holding up the DVD case of my _Trial of the Dragon, _like a nervous kid in a store.

He was keeping his legs pretty closely together, too. His knees were practically knocking.

"This was really awesome," Yosuke said. Well, glad to see he liked it. The new guy seemed pretty lost though, and was just looking at him like he was waiting for something to happen. "Like, the way they moved was just amazing to see..."

Gosh, he makes it sound like a dirty flick or something. Don't send the new guy the wrong message, it's _my_ DVD you know!

Then, he bows a full 90 degrees, offering me the DVD with both hands. I took it gingerly, not really knowing how to react.

"And... I'm really sorry! It was an accident! Please, just have mercy on until my next paycheck!"

He rose right back up and turned on his heels like a top. "Seeya thanks!"

I finally gathered that this was getting fishy. Slow uptake, I know. I... well, my body kinda reacted before my observations could even tell what was wrong. But it was like, I knew, in _my soul_ or something, that something was not well with the universe.

"Stop right there! What did you do to my DVD?!"

I didn't even care what the new guy would think, I was _fuming and I didn't know why_. You learn enough kung-fu moves and it just becomes instinct. My foot just went crazy and found its mark.

"AGH!"

I was surprised he could still stand after that! I opened the case, and my suspicions were proven true.

"What the?! I can't believe this! It's completely cracked..."

M... My-My...

"My _Trial of the Dragon_!"

"I think mine's cracked too... C-Critical hit to the nads..."

"You think you still can talk after this?! Explain this, Yosuke!"

"I don't think... now's a really good time..." said Yosuke, whimpering.

I grabbed the top of his arm. "You bet it is! What did you do, drop your fat head on it?!"

"A-Are you alright?" Yukiko came in, and then I realised the transfer student was watching too, along with whoever else was left in class. I had to force myself to calm down, but only just enough to not hit Yosuke a second time.

"Oh, Yukiko-san..." Yosuke managed. "Are you worried about me...?"

"You still got the guts to say that?!" I clenched my fist at him, and he reeled back, knocking butt-first into a desk. I turned to Yukiko, the transfer student standing behind her. I tried not to look at his expression. "He's fine, Yukiko. Let's ditch him and go home."

* * *

So, out of nowhere, before I knew it, the short-haired girl, who I just found out was named Satonaka, invited me to walk with her and her friend - which was a nice gesture - and the next minute gave that bike guy from this morning a thrashing in the worst place and manner possible. Which was not so nice. I knew she was nowhere near me when it happened, but what girls fail to realise is...

...If that sort of thing happens to _one_ guy, we feel like it happened to _all of us_, in some way or another.

If there was one thing I even remotely liked about it, it was that it was serious enough to get my mind off those dreams. Plus, it put Satonaka on the map, so to speak, in my mind. Though, probably not in the way she would have wanted.

What made me feel conflicted was that on one side of me, I saw this athletic, cute girl destroy a man with a single, well-placed kick - which made me go, _What a gal! _

On the other, watching a man get destroyed _that_ way - and he wasn't even a criminal or anything - made me feel really bad for both him, and Satonaka in fact, and that I had to learn just how interesting this girl was... at his mortal expense.

And... interesting may not be the right word to use. I almost felt like I didn't want to touch this girl with a ten-foot pole. I'll go with the catch-all term... _unique_ for now.

"He's fine, Yukiko. Let's ditch him and go home."

Satonaka and her friend Amagi started on their way out. She briefly looked in my general direction, though not making eye contact - making me somewhat glad that she had _some_ sort of conscience regarding this - before leaving. I took this as her still wanting me to go with the plan to walk home with them.

At first, I was open to the idea. I could get some fast friends in this class from the get-go, and the fact they were both good-looking didn't exactly sour things. As long as it stayed that way, as friends, I didn't mind at all.

Now, though... I suppose I'd be walking a little closer to Amagi during the large duration of this walk.

Making my way to the exit, I looked over to the hapless victim. I couldn't quite catch his name in the chaos. First the bike, now this... Seeing him hopping about and cringing like that, it goes without saying that... he looks like he's in a lot of pain.

I debated about helping him out, feeling like a gawking passerby of a terrible car accident who's weighing between not getting involved and being a helpful citizen. Then again, what could I possibly do that could help him at this point? Put some ice on it? He doesn't know me at all, and neither did I know him.

...

I should leave him be.

* * *

**A/N:** So, I'm going along with this idea I had, that all the dialogue prompts and notifications you saw in the game wasn't merely for the player's eyes, but were actually Souji's (yeah, going with that name for now) thought processes at the moment.

Also, forgive me, but I think my tenses are pretty all over the place. It's supposed to be in past tense, but I went with present tense whenever I was either unsure about its usage or felt that it'd sound better and not hurt the flow or quality of the writing much. It shouldn't be a problem unless you look for them.

Thank you for reading so far. :)


	3. Chapter 3: Girls are Like Pandas

**A/N:** Heads up for some of you, I've decided to change the protag's name from Yu to Souji, and will probably be sticking with it from now on - in case you didn't check back to the beginning chapter. That's all.

* * *

"You're Yuki, right? Y-You want to go hang out somewhere?"

Who is this guy?

On the way out of the school grounds with Satonaka and Amagi, we encountered this strange student. He wasn't from around here, judging by the uniform. If I had to guess, I would have suspected he's here for an important reason, given that the nearest school around here would have required a bus trip.

But apparently, all he came here for was a date.

Given my irrelevance to the situation at hand - not knowing what was going on - I took to observing the girls, hoping to get a hint. However, both of them looked even more confused than me. Satonaka particularly had a bit of some other emotion mixed in, judging by her tense brow.

"What...?" Amagi stammered. "Wh-Who are you?"

Some other students around us began to gather around the commotion, talking about it. One of them mentioned some Amagi Challenge. I can already make three guesses about what _that_ is.

The stranger started getting nervous too, looking around. I wasn't sure, but I think I smelt something off about him. Some sort of cologne... lots of it. I appreciated his foresight, actually, but his approach needed work... seeing that Amagi was taking a half-step backwards at this point.

"Um... s-so, are you coming or not?" said the strange student, he broadened his shoulders and walked right up to Amagi. Satonaka stepped in, shielding Amagi with her outstretched arm.

"Hey, lay off, okay?" she said, trying to keep her voice down, but obviously still channelling her anger from that cracked DVD case from earlier. "If she doesn't want to, she doesn't want to!"

"Y-! Back off. This has nothing to do with you," the strange student hissed.

"It does now," she snapped back in a second. "Your deal with Yukiko is your deal with me."

In that moment, I noticed something a little off about Satonaka when she said the last part. Her brow furrowed. I knew what that was: uncertainty. She didn't believe what she said, though I didn't know why. I didn't try to bother, so I stayed as the silent watcher to see what would happen.

Amagi finally looked up, more or less, back at the strange student. She put her hand on Satonaka's shoulder.

The strange student looked at Amagi this time, and noticeably forced his voice to be gentler. "W-Well? Come on, Yuki!"

Amagi finally spoke up, her voice soft. "I-I'm not going..."

The guy's nose flared and his eyes widened something fierce. "F... Fine!" He turned and stormed off, and I was sure I could hear him spit out "D...Damn bitch!" as he went. Soon enough, he was out of sight.

The others calmed down, and Satonaka gave Amagi some space. Amagi turned to her. "Wh-What did he want from me...?" she said, more bewildered than afraid now. Glad she calmed down so unusually fast.

"What did he want?" Satonaka scoffed at where the strange student disappeared. "Obviously, he was asking you out on a date," she said, before quickly adding under her breath "But he sure flat-out failed on that one..."

"Huh? Really...?" Amagi said, in response to what she _could_ hear, I suppose. Satonaka had her head turned towards me and away from her when she said the last part.

"You really had no clue?" Satonaka turned sharply to her friend. "Sheesh... But then again, that was way over the top. It was _creepy_ how he called you 'Yuki' all of a sudden!"

And as if to emphasise, she threw her voice into a deep one, trying to imitate a boy, and went at Amagi making clawing motions like a bogeyman. "Yuki... Hey Yuki, go out on a date with me, will ya?"

"Ch-Chie...! Stop it!" Amagi said, trying to escape as Satonaka chased her in a circle, laughing. I couldn't help but smile at the sight too, glad the situation's sorted now. These two must be really good friends.

Satonaka threw her voice like that earlier, too. She was talking about some guy saying that announcer was his soulmate... something along those lines. Heard about that lady on the news last night on the day I moved in.

I was trying to take a rest at the time after that announcement instructed us to stay in class, mulling over that lousy dream that's been plaguing my thoughts. I kept trying not to think about it, but it kept trying to push in, preventing me from ignoring it - like it _wanted_ me to think about this damn "contract" thing this Igor told me about.

Then, I heard the voice of a girl trying - and failing - to mimic a guy's voice. I opened my eyes, and it was Satonaka, trying to entertain her friend Amagi. I'd be lying if I didn't find it cute, how she was flailing her arms about.

I was pretty grateful for her at the time - she helped me get my mind off it. I wanted to at least communicate that gratitude by offering a smile, but she stopped when I looked at her, looking a bit awkward. I guess I must've put her off.

"Yo, Yukiko-san. Turned down another lovelorn fool, huh?"

The cycling student who totalled his bike and was totalled by Satonaka showed up with his bike - both of them seemingly intact. The guy himself seemed to have recovered gracefully, all things considered.

"Man, you're cruel... You got me the same way last year."

"I don't recall doing that," said Amagi, turning to him as he approached.

"Whoa, you serious?" He propped his bike up. "So then, you wanna hang out sometime?!"

"...I'd rather not," she said, apologetic, with her head down. She shook her head to emphasise.

"That'll teach me to get my hopes up..." he sighed. Satonaka just snickered in support. He got his bicycle moving again and made ready to bid us farewell. "Anyways, you two better not pick on the transfer student too much."

He got on his yellow bike and zoomed off like a flash of lightning before Satonaka could grab and/or throttle him, so she just stamped her foot in place. "We're just curious, is all!"

I appreciate your concern, cycling student. You escaping is indicative of otherwise, though. And besides, curious about what? All we city folk have more than you people are buildings, cars... and all the smoke and noise that comes with them.

...

That's not bad. Maybe I'll tell it to them on the way home when I get the chance.

* * *

"Ah... so you came here because of your parents' job."

That stupid Yosuke committed the crime of ruining my _Trial of the __Dragon_, and he escaped on his bike too! I wasn't going to let him get away with it - that klutz was gonna buy me the fattest, juiciest steak he knows _how_ to buy, and I'm gonna make him buy one for Yukiko and the new guy, too! Hey, it'll earn some brownie points with him, and I'll be doing Hanamura a favour by introducing the new guy to him too!

"That's right," replied the new guy, giving another of his trademark nods. The two of us and Yukiko were walking home together, and we took a turn into one of the neighbourhood lanes.

"Haha, I thought it was something way more serious."

I could've sworn I saw him give a sharp glance before his expression softened back again - it was just for a blink and I may have just been seeing things - but it shut me up right away.

"S-Sorry! I mean, it's tough, y'know? Me and Yukiko, we've been here all our lives, so there's no way we..."

The new guy shook his head. "It's fine." He smiled in response, but I could tell it probably wasn't real. Crap, I must've hit a raw nerve. Stupid! And wasn't his name Souji Seta? Quit calling him "new kid" already!

"Th-That's right," Yukiko chimed in for a much-welcomed save. "We hope you're not offended."

"Yeah! It's just that, we rarely get transfer students around here, let alone from the city!"

"Hm," the new gu- I mean, Seta said, thoughtful. "Well, it's not like we city people are aliens or anything."

"Well, of course I don't mean it that way," I replied, trying to laugh it off. Seta smiled back politely too. I relaxed, hoping he was fine now. Maybe he was always fine, and my eyes were playing tricks on me. My imagination tended to get over-active at times anyway... "But looking at our _last_ city boy, Yosuke, I'd be gladder if he _was_ one... I bet an alien has more courtesy than him, even those blood-sucking, movie ones!"

"Yosuke?" he asked.

"Oh, that's right! Yosuke's the one who, um..." I froze, remembering what I did to him earlier at class. Knowing Seta was watching made me feel pretty bad about it. Whether he did it or not, it _may_ have been a little over in dispensing the justice... "The one who gave back my DVD?"

"Oh, him," he nodded, taking note. He looked forward and gave a mock cough, obviously trying to mask the discomfort I laid onto him. "Though, the way we left him, I think I'll be the _only_ city boy in the class now."

"Ugh," I reeled. "That bad, huh..." Even Yukiko was nodding a little too vigorously at me from behind Seta, unable to see her.

Seta nodded too. "It was an interesting first impression you made..."

Oh man... I must look like a total monster to this guy now. But still, he _did_ still end up walking with us, right?

I gulped. Yeah, he did end up following us. Out of _fear_ of going back on our arrangement. He probably thinks I'll deck him too - cross me and you're dead. I feel like that mafia boss from one of those movies... You can't say no to him, or he'll make you regret it.

We ended up walking in silence for a while, but luckily it served to slowly dissipate the uncomfortable atmosphere as time went on... emphasis on "slowly". We arrived on a road, passing by some paddy fields. I gestured to the sight, hoping to showcase our little town to the new guy. I mean Seta...

"There really is nothing here, huh?" Seta turned his attention to the fields, which made me take a close look at them, too, taking in the scene. "But I guess... That's what makes it nice." I turned back to him. "But... there's nothing much here we can show to people from outside."

Seta's eyes lit up, and he shook his head. "There's no need to say it like that. All we city folk have more than you people are buildings, cars... and all the smoke and noise that comes with them."

I laughed a little, and Yukiko smiled a little too. I appreciated that he could find a little good in an old countryside like Inaba, since he'll be living here for some time and all. "Haha, if you put it that way... I guess both environments have their pros and cons too, huh?"

He nodded, looking pretty satisfied at my reaction. What, was he saving that little joke just for this or something?

I went on to talk to Seta about Mt. Yasogami and our pottery, hoping to prove to whoever that I knew _something_ about my hometown. The history lessons coming soon might be a different story, though... "Oh wait, and there's the Amagi inn!" I gestured with both arms to Yukiko, who was sticking to herself on the far end, slightly behind us. "Yukiko's family runs it. It's the pride of Inaba!"

That seemed to have caught her attention, and she joined the conversation. "Huh? It's... just an old inn."

Nuh uh, I ain't gonna let you sell yourself short to the new guy. "No way! It's been in all sorts of magazines as a hidden treasure, and I suspect it's fame can only go up once Yukiko here takes over someday. It's pretty much what keeps this place going."

"...I don't think that's entirely true," Yukiko said in a flat tone. Come on, you weren't even embarrassed by that?! And don't say it so plainly like it's a fact! Maybe I should teach you a lesson...

Noting Seta's interest in the conversation, somehow absorbing all the facts I just told him, and now that the focus is on Yukiko now, I decided that now was my chance to strike.

"So, tell me. You think Yukiko's cute, huh?"

"Ch-Chie!" Yukiko sputtered, finally getting involved. Seta too was taken aback by this, his view tracing wildly in all directions except at Yukiko. Hook, line and sinker.

"Well?" I prodded in a melodic tone, but Seta just kept quiet.

"..."

"Come on!" I laughed, with Yukiko grabbing me with one arm and shaking me lightly, trying to make sure Seta doesn't see. "Chie...! Come on, don't start this again..."

"She's really popular at school, but she's never had a boyfriend before! Kinda weird, huh?"

"I wouldn't really say so..." was Seta's reply. Poor guy was even blushing a little bit.

"Oh...?"

"C-Come on, stop it." Yukiko barged in, turning to Seta. "Y-You shouldn't believe that, okay? It's not true that I'm popular or that I've never had a boyfriend." She then started waving her hand, as if to negate what she said. "Wait, n-no! What I meant to say is that, I don't need a boyfriend!" She finally gave up, hanging her head down. "Geez... Chie!"

I got myself laughing at the look on her face. Seta was shaking his head himself, looking pretty defeated, or deflated... maybe both. "Ahaha, sorry! I'm sorry!" I looked to Yukiko, who looked back at me with tired disapproval. "But this is our chance to talk to someone from the big city, and you barely said a word!"

Unexpectedly though, Seta stopped right in his tracks. Surprised, Yukiko and I stopped walking, too. He stood rooted in place, looking somewhat intently at Yukiko, brow furrowed.

"Um..." Yukiko squeaked, turning a shoulder to him. "What is it...?"

"Hold on a second, Satonaka," Seta suddenly said, his words quick. He held his arm out towards me, pointer finger raised.

Seta put both hands on his hips, eyes still locked onto Yukiko, which was when I got at what he was trying to imply. "Oh, I get it..." I laughed again, glad that Seta wasn't happy with me leaving it at that. "Are you... reconsidering your answer? You're welcome to!"

The last time we walked a new guy home and I asked him the same question about Yukiko being cute, he just gave a resounding "Oh, definitely!" That guy was Yosuke. Seta still was looking at Yukiko, and for some reason he started tapping his foot while stealing glances at me, like he was waiting for my response. I obliged him.

"Hey, how long are you gonna take to make a decision?"

"Sorry about that Amagi." Seta finally took his eyes off Yukiko and turned to me, and Yukiko's posture noticeably relaxed. I noticed that during the whole time, his gaze was only fixed on Yukiko's face, and didn't go any further down. It made me pretty relieved that we didn't have another pervert on our hands like Yosuke or that weirdo from earlier - just a guy who was innocently joking around. It made me smile a little wider.

This guy really_ isn't_ all too bad at all.

"Are you curious about my answer, Satonaka?" Seta finally said, expressing his desire to take a second shot at getting Yukiko's attention. I guess the first time threw him off, but now he was ready to say it straight. Smooth, has manners, doesn't go overboard... this guy's the polar opposite of Yosuke! Well okay, a polar opposite of Yosuke would've said "Ew, no!" to the question I asked, but given the chances of _that_ happening...

Seta was smiling a bit, though, so I knew he was just playing around with us. I decided to play along too and gave a superhero stance, putting my hands on my hips and blocking the road we were walking on. Yukiko however was just kinda standing there helpless while the both of us were picking on her. Sorry, Yukiko! I smiled, "Of course! Alright, second chance! Do you think Yukiko's cute or not?"

Yukiko by now was panicking. "Wh-Why are you bringing this up again, Seta-kun...? Chie does this all the time. J-Just ignore her...! "

"Don't worry, Amagi, I know," said Seta, giving a reassuring smile to Yukiko. Hm...? What was he getting at?

"There's no need to be embarrassed," he said to Yukiko again. He took a step towards me instead, and looked pretty serious.

"Satonaka, you should know better."

"Huh?" I pointed to myself, bewildered. "Me...? What did I do?"

"You were trying to pull a quick one on both of us," was his curt reply. "Yosuke already told you not to pick on me."

A laugh just came out of me, feeling pretty incredulous about this. What was Seta trying to play at, here?

"Nah," I said, quick to gain the upper hand. "He said not to pick on you _too much._" I grinned, happy that I somehow managed to remember Yosuke's exact words.

Seta just gave a light chuckle. "To me, it _is_ too much." He continued, shifting his shoulder to adjust his bag. The way he said it... it almost sounded like a light taunt - like I was gonna regret pulling a fast one on him. But obviously, he's got nothing on me, so I didn't feel threatened at all. He cleared his throat before proceeding with giving me his answer. "Anyway, to answer your question... I think so, yeah."

It got a good laugh outta me, and Yukiko almost face-palmed, resting the back of her finger against her forehead. "Was that all of this was for...?"

I crossed my arms, an unexpected but not-exactly-unwelcome feeling of victory filling me now that Seta admitted it. All the guys can't resist Yukiko, even him! I was pretty pleased, so I wanted to make sure Seta would hear an earful of it too. I took a breath and directed a big grin at him.

"A-ha! I knew it-"

Seta quickly held up a finger to stop me and opened his mouth. "Generally speaking, anyway."

Wait... generally speaking? What?

"Huh?" I blurted out. Even Yukiko looked at me, pretty confused at what he just said.

Yukiko took some steps towards Seta, so he could see her. She looked way more curious than flustered. "What do you mean by that, Seta-kun?"

"Well..." Seta trailed off into silence. However, instead of looking tongue-tied, he looked more like he was trying to remember something. "I saw a documentary yesterday about baby pandas. They were cute. You'd say that _all_ baby pandas, generally speaking, are cute, wouldn't you, Satonaka?"

"Huh? Well, yeah, baby pandas _are _cute..." I said. That was a big enough truth that even _I_ didn't feel girly agreeing with it. It helped that he was the one who pointed it out in the first place.

Looking like he's been completely satisfied, he started walking again as if nothing happened, taking advantage of my confusion to pass by me. Still, I managed to step backwards and stop him, spreading my arms out to block him.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean? What does..."

Oh, I get it... Why did he have to beat around the bush so much, though? I gave him a sly smile. "Oh, so you mean Yukiko's _objectively_ cute, no matter what? Why didn't you say so?" I wanted to see the look on Yukiko's face when he speedily cut in, shaking his head.

"That's not it, Satonaka."

"Hm, then what?"

"Don't misunderstand me," he tutted. "Amagi can't be _every_ panda out there." He looked at me like I was supposed to know this, and so I pretended that I did.

"Um... sure! What _do_ you mean, then?"

"I mean..." Seta took a step back, and then looked at Yukiko to make sure she was listening. "You yourself. You're just as much of a panda as Amagi is."

...Wait.

"Wha-huh?" was all I could say in response. "Wha-Wha do you..."

Yukiko however was beginning to smile, noting the pressure's getting off of her. "Ohhh..." she said, lifting a finger showing she's just figured it out.

Wait...

"What I'm saying is," Seta continued. "You shouldn't be tough on Amagi. You're just as cute as she is."

...

What-

"Don't you think so too, Amagi?" He beckoned to Yukiko, smiling. "What were your exact words again, Satonaka? Um..." He looked to Yukiko. "So, tell me. You think Satonaka's cute, huh?"

"Hey-"

Yukiko quickly walked up, tossing a knowing smile my way. "Why yes, I think she's very cute! Just adorable."

Glad to see _you're_ happy it's on me now! My cheeks are heating up! Why does my face feel so hot? I-It must be the embarrassment from... from these two ganging up on me! And what's Seta doing with his eye-

"Hey! Don't think I didn't see you winking to Yukiko!" I yelled, pointing a finger straight at him like a mad, betrayed gunman.

"Of course not - that's why I let you see it." Seta winked at _me_ now, and then he just kept smiling that... that smug smile. "Is something wrong? Amagi says you do this all the time."

"N-Not this way!" I stamped my foot, face burning. "Y-You're supposed to be calling Yukiko cute, not-!"

M...

Me?

Seta chuckled again, keeping his satisfied joy to himself. Yukiko was laughing a little, too.

What... what was...

He shrugged, looking way too satisfied. He started walking again, ready to pass by me. "I'm really sorry, Satonaka. But you set me up. And..." He froze mid-sentence for just a second - I caught it before he walked past. His voice was soft so only I could hear it, still chipper - but something about the tone... it wasn't the same kind of chipper as just now. He didn't look at me.

"...I don't like losing. Sorry again. No hard feelings?"

Those words caught me, but he kept walking past, stopping me from calling him. Yukiko walked past me, too, and took some time to rub it in.

"About time someone turned the tables on you," she said, smiling. "Every time we introduce a new male student to the town, you pull this trick on me."

It took me a few seconds to catch myself so that I could answer Yukiko. "Sorry..." I murmured. "Just a joke, that's all. Plus none of those 'male students' caught your eye so far anyway, and I wanted to keep trying." I tilted my head and looked at her with the best apologetic look I could make, hoping to get off the hook.

"Well you can keep trying, because it's never going to work with the method _you're_ using," Yukiko jabbed back. Ouch, sorry...

She then looked confused for a second before hurriedly correcting herself. "Wait, I mean, stop trying!"

"I can't guarantee you, but... Oh, fine! Okay..." I finally gave in, having learnt my lesson. I smiled at her. "Since you don't like it."

"Good," Yukiko nodded, seemingly satisfied before she added something again. "I never did, by the way." was her correction, before she practically "hmphed" me.

We started walking again, and Yukiko lowered her voice, looking at Seta while he was walking further down the road. We were out of the paddy fields and were going into the neighbourhood again. She raised her eyebrows and gave me a smile. "Although..."

"Although what?" I asked, curious about what it was she _still _had to say. I already said I was sorry...! Have some mercy...

"It seems you've caught _his_ eye," Yukiko finally said. She lightly elbowed me in the side as we caught up to Seta. "Hm? Hm?"

Heyyy_waitaminute_

"D...!" I hissed, lowering my voice. "Don't get the wrong idea! He wasn't interested in me - he was just trying to get back at me, that's all!"

Eager to defend my case, I jabbed Yukiko's side. "Besides, if anything, _you're_ the one who caught his eye - why d'you think he came to your rescue, started getting chummy with you and everything?"

"If I caught his eye," Yukiko said. "He would've said so the first time."

"I-! Maybe...! Argh, forget it!"

I quickened my pace and left Yukiko behind, who was laughing a bit at my expense. I also didn't want her to see my face - I started walking faster the moment my cheeks was heating up again. What do I even look like right now?

Stupid transfer student. Are all city boys this insensitive? Figures. Now I have _two_ jerks to deal with, one sitting behind me, and now one's right beside me!

Sheesh. I hope we don't get another.

* * *

**A/N:** Well... I certainly got carried away writing this chapter... Sheesh, longest single chapter of any fic I've written so far, too. I'd intended to have them at the police site, meet Dojima, and end at them parting ways, but now... this. I wanted to put in this part and make it work so badly that it got pretty long. Heh. It added some really weird things I didn't expect. Souji's now less quiet than I intended, the spark with Chie got started much earlier and less subtly than I intended or even _liked_, and... yeah. But I like it so much... that I'm letting it stay anyway.

I'm particularly glad that I managed to write more Yukiko into it and let her stand out a little through this. I was a little worried at first she wouldn't have the prominent presence I would've wanted, since it i_s_ a Chie POV fic after all, and they're best friends - nevermind Souji's Social Link with Yukiko afterward...

Anyway, that's enough author babbling for now. As before, I give you my thanks for reading so far. :)


	4. Chapter 4: Trouble Brewing

**A/N: **Sorry for the long wait, readers. I'll be getting back into the swing of things, so hopefully we'll be picking back up again. Strangely enough, a chunk of that time I could've spent writing was taken by Persona _3P_ instead. :p Sorry 'bout that.

* * *

I can't believe I just pulled that off.

I walked right ahead after performing that elaborate prank on Satonaka, suddenly gaining a strange confidence from the depths of... I don't know where, and now that I've come to my senses I'm walking as fast as I can so that I can't see how upset she is right now.

Baby pandas - seriously?

I really wasn't really sure where I got the courage for that - delivering each line smooth and uninterrupted. Well, not that I didn't have the ability, but rather that I even bothered to in the first place. My internal self broke out of the reserved shell I had specially made for first-day-of-school - if not _all_ school purposes. The shell I'm _supposed_ to be keeping up here, dammit.

Though, if anything, it was kinda nice to have the chance to see Satonaka this flustered on the first day of meeting her. She was already pretty cute before, but when she got surprised, her eyes grew really big and bright, and it was almost like the heavy blush on her cheeks served to frame her eyes even more.

Furthermore, if anything _else_, I at least in some way made it up to that guy by getting back at her for her abuse of him...

Anyway, strange justifications aside, Satonaka and Amagi caught up to me, just in time to arrive at a street where a pair of busy housewives were chatting away. We saw some police officers and their car too, for some reason.

"Wow, who could imagine _that_ hanging from an antenna?"

"I wanted to see it too..."

Satonaka walked up to me, already calmed down. "Huh? What's going on?"

"Uh, you got here too late..." said the first housewife. "The police and fire department already took it down just a moment ago."

"Well, I think it's terrifying," said the second. "I can't believe a dead body showed up around here..."

"...Wait, what did she just say?" Satonaka said, leaning forward. "A dead body?!"

A familiar face showed up. It was Uncle Dojima, and if it weren't for Nanako pointing out what he did for a living, I'd have wondered what he was doing there.

"Hey, what're you doing here?"

I'd rather not get on his bad cop side - having just arrived here - and it's pretty obvious from the chatter that something really sensitive had happened. I played dumb for now and cleared my throat.

"We're just passing by."

He seemed convinced enough, judging by his none too suspicious expression. "Huh, I should've figured that would happen..." Dojima scratched his head, muttering to himself. "That damn principal. We told him not to let them through here..."

* * *

A body hanging from the antenna, did I hear that right?! Yukiko looked pretty shocked too. This officer then came up and started talking to Seta. I softened my voice.

"...You know this guy?"

Seta nodded way too sagely than he ought to again. "He's my uncle whose place I'm staying over at."

"I'm Detective Dojima, his guardian." He pursed his lips. "Uhh... Well, how should I say this..." He turned to Seta. "I hope you get along with him."

Well, I can't guarantee that, if he keeps pulling stuff like he did earlier...

The officer, Seta's uncle apparently, straightened his back, a stern look painted across his face. "But you three really ought to stop wandering around and head straight home."

"Um..." I was about to frantically agree when another officer came running out and ran to the ditch on the other side, proceeding to heave his guts out. Yukiko put a hand to her mouth by instinct, and Seta merely raised his brows, quite spiritedly at that. I turned to him. "Not another uncle of yours, I hope..."

Seta shook his head, closing his eyes. That must have been either a really terrible crime scene, or that officer must've been a rookie...

"Adachi! How long are you going to act like a rookie?!"

Well, that answers that somewhat... Detective Dojima began chewing the other officer out. During that, bells rang in my head, and I turned to Yukiko.

"Wait... Was this what that announcement was about...?"

"That may be..." said Yukiko. "But what do they mean... it was hanging from an antenna...?"

The streets suddenly felt pretty claustrophobic, like they were closing in on us. A weird dead body ending up in Inaba...? And from an antenna? This was the kind of thing you'd expect to see on the evening news about some faraway seedy city, but here...?

"Hey, Yukiko...?" I said, exiting that train of thought. "Why don't we go to Junes some other time? C'mon, let's just go home today..."

Yukiko nodded, sharing my concern. "Good idea..."

Yukiko went ahead, so I took this chance to address Seta as she walked. "Sorry, but..."

"Yeah, there's no problem," Seta interjected into my awkward trail-off, much to my relief.

Jerk or not, the new guy did seem perceptive enough of situations to handle them with care, and I didn't want him to get hurt on his first day in our town, especially not after me playing up all our good points earlier. That'd be the worst first impression any place would give anyone!

"Will you be okay, though...?" I added.

"It's alright, the house I'm staying in isn't that far," said Seta. "And as you can see, my uncle's an officer..."

"Right, right." For some reason, the way he danced around just calling it "my home" stood out to me - but I guess that should be no surprise seeing he just moved here. I made a mental note for tomorrow onwards to do the best I could to convince him that Inaba is _far_ from a psycho town full of strange deaths. I saw Yukiko turn around, waiting for me to keep up. She was fidgeting - obviously uncomfortable about this whole thing just as I was. I gave her a nod to tell her I was coming.

"Alright then, we're taking off."

Seta gave a nod. I gave him the best smile I could, but the nerves were quite a bit stronger than I expected. All the officers and police cars around made me feel like we were just a corner away from seeing a gross body bag, even though that wasn't likely... I pumped my fist a bit to shake it off, hoping to put him at ease a little too - though I admit, it was probably helping me much more, judging by his more neutral expression.

"Okay! Starting tomorrow, neighbour, let's do our best!"

"Neighbour...? You mean you live near...?" Seta leaned a bit forward, before his mouth gaped a little. "Oh, you mean our desks. Of course." He lightly palmed his forehead, and turned away a little. Part of me was kinda glad he wasn't taking the body-on-the-antenna thing so grimly, but part of me also felt a bit weird that he was so laid-back about it. Does he see this sort of thing all the time in the city? Or maybe he's just putting up a pleasant front, like I am...

"Well, okay," Seta said more firmly, holding his hand out. A handshake, here...? He said "Let's do our best" before muttering "at... whatever it is..." right after that, coaxing a small laugh from me. I took his hand and shook it as quickly as I could manage without being standoffish, because it was then that I noticed my palms were getting little bit sweaty from standing near this crime scene for so long. Maybe he's feeling much more at ease 'cause he's not facing it...

"Seeya." I gave him a nod before leaving, prompting another one from him in reply.

* * *

Later that night, I got a call from Yukiko while I was doing some light reading in my room, lying on the bed. "Hey, Yukiko. What's up?"

"Hey, Chie. Did you watch the news?"

"Oh, yeah! Turns out it was that announcer lady, Yamano, right?" I put my magazine aside and sat up. "It was surreal to hear about that antenna stuff, when just earlier... you know? I got goosebumps all over my neck when I heard it!"

"I wasn't expecting it either..." Yukiko trailed off for a while, discomfort showing in her voice on the other side of the line. "But they _did_ say it may not have been a murder... I don't know how she could've gotten that way, but if at least murder wasn't involved..."

"Yeah... I get it."

"The only thing like that that as happened was that car accident from years ago... do you remember? It just kind of flashed in my memory when I heard the news. At least that's a sign that things like these are so few and far between..."

"I guess, maybe..." I kneaded my temples with my free hand before tossing the magazine on my desk nearby, deciding to call it a day. "This is all pretty stressful, Yukiko. Sorry, but I'm gonna call it a day..."

"Oh, that would be for the best," Yukiko replied. "Have a good night's sleep, Chie."

"Thanks, Yukiko. You too." I hung up, giving a dragged out sigh. I got ready for bed and dragged the sheets over me, holding onto them a little more snugly than usual, staring up at the dark ceiling.

"To think it'd happen here, of all places..."

Still holding out that it might be a freak, if still horrible accident, I pushed the thought from my mind and tried to get some sleep. Luckily, it came pretty easily, and I settled into the night.

My last thoughts were a scattered reflection on the day's events - mostly the transfer student. I wondered if he was gonna turn out okay. What rotten timing...

* * *

**A/N:** Just a short one for now. I think I'll be pulling the story's first timeskip, but it's not that long. Thanks for reading and having patience with me.


	5. Chapter 5: The Flame of Forbidden Love

**A/N:** Hey people. First half is pretty by-the-book, following the game's events pretty closely, so don't get too bored reading! I wasn't expecting to mix it up in the last section, but I guess it's good that it happened. We haven't even gone into the TV yet! I'm not even too sure how to tackle that... Take it as it comes, I guess. Anyway...

* * *

The brave soldier whose family jewels were gravely endangered yesterday was confirmed to be named Yosuke, surname Hanamura to be precise. After Satonaka mentioned him yesterday, I finally got to be properly acquainted with him this morning - once I fished him out of a trash can when his bike totalled, yet again. I refused to stay quiet at his plight any longer, as his tendency to get himself hurt was too worrying to be complacent of.

My new acquaintance approached me after the day's classes, which were very much uneventful, as far as second days of school go. Morooka earlier seemed more vigorous than usual, and his enthusiasm was actually infectious enough that I paid attention to him. Some of the class' girls came up to me to engage in some small talk as well, but nothing much aside from that.

"Yo," said Hanamura. "Thanks for the save again."

"It's no problem at all," I said, shaking my head. If anything, I should have acted much earlier... I could've prevented at least two tragedies.

He nodded at what I did tell him, offering a smile. "So, you getting used to this place?"

Though I only just got to know him, my honest feelings won out in the end. Normally I'd just pacify him - heck, I did that with the _last_ school, being agreeable and all - but I guess I was too tired to do anything else but give the straight truth today. I didn't get any weird dreams last night thankfully, but my sleep still wasn't entirely pleasant.

"Not yet," I said, shaking my head again.

Fortunately, he seemed pretty understanding. "Yeah, well, you just got here."

"There isn't much to do here compared to the big city," said Hanamura, letting out a small breath, looking out the class window. "But there's that certain... something you can't get anywhere else, y'know?"

He's not from here either? He did have more modern vibe to him, judging from his hair and headphones. It's a little weird that he didn't really stand out apart from his accidents, though.

But I suppose he had a point. Even throughout today's lessons, I tuned out from the lectures a bit... and I realised just how cosy the classroom was. Being seated at the side, I had a lot of breathing room to my left, and a lot of the students were pretty low-key and quiet - when the teacher was talking, anyway.

Something about just how quiet the classroom was seemed palpable to me. My previous ones could get quiet too, no doubt - but those were usually during tense situations, like when the teacher was angry, or during a test - this one had a kind of... serenity to it. Even the background noise that did come up here and there was more pleasant stuff like birds chirping and the works, as opposed to car horns and traffic.

There was a... "certain something", as he said. Once just now, I leaned back in my seat and took a deep breath, which turned out to be surprisingly refreshing. And as if by cue...

"The air's clean," Hanamura continued. "The food's great... Oh, you know about the local delicacy?"

I gave him a smile. Though he only just implied he's from a city, it felt pretty comforting nonetheless to have some familiarity this early in my stay here. "Can't say I have. I only ate inside so far."

"Then allow me to introduce you to your first outside meal," he nodded, speaking with a dramatic flair. "It's grilled steak, man!" He laughed. "Like that's anything special, huh?"

Hanamura walked in closer, lowering his voice. "I know a place where you can get it cheap. Wanna come? You helped me out this morning, so it's on me."

Free food? Why not? I didn't mind hanging with him either - he seemed like a pretty cool person. "I'm down. I've got no plans anytime soon."

And then, out of nowhere, Satonaka popped in. A small look of dread materialised on Hanamura's face.

"What about me, huh?" she said, directed to Hanamura. She tapped her foot twice for emphasis, hands on her hips. "No apologies? Uh - my _Trial of the Dragon_?"

Hanamura slouched. "Ugh. You always come around when I'm talking about food, huh..."

"How about it, Yukiko?" Satonaka turned. I didn't even notice Amagi in front of us until Satonaka pointed her out - cleaning up her stuff and arranging them in her bag. "Don't you think he should treat us, too?"

Amagi opted out, mentioning something about watching her weight and the family inn from yesterday. I guess not everyone can have a carefree metabolism like Satonaka does...

After seeing her have a good time yesterday picking on Satonaka with me, it's a little unusual to see her so... well, dull? The actuality certainly wasn't the case, so I wondered if this was her default temperament, and what I saw yesterday was a rare glimpse I somehow had to privilege to see so early.

In any case though, she's pretty responsible compared to he rest of us school kids, or at least is loaded with a fair bit of it.

"Oh well," Satonaka sighed."_We_ should get going too."

"Huh?" Hanamura replied with a cringe. "Do I seriously have to treat _two_ people?" He turned to me. "Nothing wrong about treating _you_, of course..."

I glanced at Satonaka, who had a sly smile. I turned back to Hanamura.

"Of course."

* * *

"_This_ is the cheap place you were talking about? They don't have grilled steak here!"

Figures. Here I thought I was gonna eat like a king as compensation for my _Trial_ _of the Dragon_, and Yosuke brought me and Seta to Junes? Talk about a bait and switch...

"Okay, first thing - wasn't talking to you," said Yosuke, coming over to our table, placing a tray of food onto the surface, causing it to shake a little. Nothing like cheap tables to go with your meal... "Second: this isn't the place I was talking to _him_ about - I decided to switch." He punctuated the "him" part by jabbing at Seta's general direction, like he was trying to drill it into my head.

"Okay, I get it! Sheesh..." I'm not as dense as you, okay? I heard you the first time. But wait... "Huh? Then how come we're here?"

"Yeah, well, once you decided to hop on the freeloader train, I had to change my plans."

Seta interrupted with a hesitant cough, putting his fist to his mouth, which almost covered his cheeky smile. "You say that as if there was already someone on board..."

"Oh, no, no," Yosuke stammered, waving his arms. "I'm okay with you coming, that's not what I meant." He turned to me now. "I just didn't want to give Lady Satonaka here the privilege of the proper venue."

Humph. I stuck my tongue out at him. "Still, that's no reason to take us to your place."

"Dude, this isn't _my_ place or anything," he replied, incredulous. His expression brightened up as he turned to Seta. "Oh, right. I haven't told you yet, huh? I moved here from another city about six months back..."

While Yosuke was splurging his backstory to Seta, I suddenly remembered about the Midnight Channel thing. I guess it wouldn't hurt to get them in on the fun as well, since it might take a while before Yukiko ever gets enough free time to check it out...

"Here, this is to welcome your to town." Yosuke took one of the cups of soda that was on the tray, which prompted Seta to take another gingerly, replying with a curt nod. Man, what a strange guy... doesn't he ever just sit back and chill out with his buddies? I'm sure city boys don't actually act all posh like he does, judging by Yosuke here... But then again, after he completely embarrassed me yesterday, I figured it was just the same bad cake, with different frosting.

He looked to the last cup. "Satonaka, yours is on me, too."

Oh, it _better._ I quickly nabbed the soda and scrunched my nose, giving him a smirk. "Yeah, I know."

* * *

After some idle conversation, Hanamura's attention was diverted to this girl who looked like an employee here - probably a part-timer from the school. Satonaka confirmed that soon afterwards, identifying her as Saki Konishi. I couldn't make out any of their conversation, but by then she was already walking up to our table, eyes trained on me in particular.

"Are you the transfer student?" she said, offering a friendly smile, with upturned eyes.

I nodded and looked to Satonaka. "Saki Konishi, is what they told me."

Konishi laughed, apparently somewhat flattered. "Oh, did you hear about me already? It must be nice to have someone else from the big city to talk to, huh?" She looked briefly to Hanamura, who was standing behind her. "I don't see Hana-chan hanging out with the other guys much."

"Uh, n-not necessarily..." he said, trying to wave it off. Strange. He seemed like a friendly sort, but I guess it makes a little sense, since I had to approach him first via trashcan rescue.

Konishi nodded, as if what he did affirmed what she said. "He doesn't have too many friends, so I hope you get along good. Hana-chan's a good guy, but he can get nosy sometimes. You gotta tell him right to his face when he starts to annoy you."

Nosy? Annoying? It'd make more sense if she warned me that he was a walking accident scene. He looked pretty nervous at the back there, and I didn't want to give her the wrong idea of my impression of him either. Still, we only just met... Sure, he bought me food - but I wasn't going to start showering praises and calling him a great guy or anything...

"That's not true," I finally said, lightly shaking my head, trying not to sound too stern.

"I'm just kidding," she replied, laughing it off.

...I'm not so sure about this girl.

"Ahahah, you had me going there, Senpai." Hanamura wasn't too bad at trying to seize back the conversation. It wasn't meant to last, though.

"Well, my break's just about over. Back to work I go…" said Konishi. She turned around and waved to none of us in particular. "Laters!"

..."Laters", huh...

"Oh uh, Senpai...!" stammered Hanamura, before quickly giving up and returning to his seat at our table, while Konishi disappeared among the stalls and made her way out of the food court. All things considered, Hanamura seemed to still be in a good mood. "Hahah, Saki-senpai says _I'm_ annoying, but she's even nosier than me. She has a younger brother, and she treats me pretty much the same way..."

Call me nosy myself, but I were to guess, I'd say he sounded a little bit disappointe-

"Ohhh, you don't want her treating you like a brother, huh?" Satonaka leaned in, resting her head upon her hand as she propped an elbow on the table. "Oh, I get it. So _that's_ how it is..."

"What're you talking about?" said Hanamura, stuffing the straw in his mouth and inhaling his drink a little too strongly.

"You know what I mean!" chirped Satonaka. "The daughter of a local family-run liquor store and the scion of the invading chain… Ahh, the flame of forbidden love!"

Holy crap, Satonaka, stop trying to kill this guy. Still, I failed to stifle a small laugh, and either the comment or my laugh got a reaction from him.

"Wha- Dude, it's not like that..."

...Holy crap, he's blushing.

"You're blushing," I said, omitting the informal portions.

"I- No I'm not!" Hanamura shot back.

"Is he? Ohoho!" Satonake said, moving around to get a better look.

"Quit it you guys, or _you'll_ be paying for your own food!" Hanamura said, slamming his palms on the table, making it rattle a bit. Seems the tables aren't the best quality. Well, at least they go well with the equally fragile-looking aluminium chairs...

Satonaka finally backed off, if only a little. She leaned back in her seat, both arms tucked behind her head. "Oh reaaally...? Well, I know just the thing to cheer up that lovesick heart!" She leaned back forward and darted her view between he two of us with those big, bright eyes. "You ever hear of the Midnight Channel?"

...

That sounds like something so irrelevant it seemed she had to shoehorn it in.

"No... Is it something like an advice show?" was the best guess I could offer.

Satonaka shook her head, seemingly glad I didn't get it right. Her voice got low and secretive. "Lemme tell you. You're supposed to look into a TV that's switched off, alone, exactly at midnight on a rainy night."

There's a lot of criteria.

"While you're staring at your own image," Satonaka continued. "...Another person will appear on the screen… And they say that person's your soulmate."

"What? For a second, I thought you were actually going to say something useful…" Hanamura seemed pretty underwhelmed, but I thought it was at least a little bit intriguing, though it _was _only my second day of learning anything substantial here... "How can you get all excited over such a childish urban legend like that?"

"Childish, huh?!" Satonaka replied. "You don't believe it, do you?!"

"What, and you do? Who _would_?" Hanamura looked at her with a disapproving expression. "Of course I don't!"

"Well!" Satonaka drank the last of her soda through the straw in the most angry way possible - which isn't a lot - before crossing her arms. "It's raining _tonight_. Let's all try it out - then you'll see!"

"Try it out...? Wait, you mean you haven't even tried it yourself?!" Hanamura looked just about ready to try and end this conversation as soon as possible. "Wow... I'm trying to remember the last time I heard something this stupid..."

And end it he did. He disregarded Satonaka and turned to me instead - just when I thought they were going to carry the rest of lunch chat themselves. "All that aside... you know that 'incident' yesterday? You guys think it was murder?"

I nodded, though in all honesty I didn't give it much thought, if any. The news last night jogged my mind, but before I knew it I was singing off-key to the Junes tune for Nanako. "I think so. Something weird like that _does_ seem more like an accident, but I still think it feels a little off..."

"Yeah, me too..." said Satonaka. "It's really not something you see every day."

"Ooh, what if the culprit behind it was still lurking around...?" said Hanamura before topping it off with the weirdest mischievous laugh I've heard, in recent memory at least.

"Sheesh, you shouldn't joke about stuff like that," chided Satonaka. She rubbed her hand against the sleeve of her other arm. "_Now_ who's the childish one?"

Satonaka did seem more solemn about this than Hanamura was, which was unexpected to me. She seemed like the more playful of the two by a mile, but I guess I've much yet to realise - about both of them.

"All I'm saying is, you guys better try it out tonight," she added, still not giving up on that idea of hers, and probably fishing for a less uncomfortable topic. "You too, new guy!"

"Okay, I don't mind." I gave a slight shrug, smiling. "It's Seta by the way, 'neighbour'."

"Oh, right, right. Sorry..." She bowed slightly and put a hand to her head in apology. "You _do_ remember how I told you it works, right?"_  
_

"Didn't bother to," Hanamura jabbed, coughing. Satonaka just puffed her cheeks at him before turning to me, hopeful.

"What about you, Seta-kun?"

...

Um...

"Rainy night..." I started.

"Yeah?" Satonaka urged me on, looking at me with those big bright eyes again. It... made it a little harder to concentrate on the already convoluted criteria for watching the thing. I tried looking away, but I didn't want to risk making her think I was breaking eye contact because I didn't know.

"Alone, at night... Midnight."

"What else?" she said, eyes getting somehow wider. For some reason I also thought she was blinking less, showing her eyes further, making me notice that they were kind of sparkly - lustrous, even. Getting more and more distracting by it. Distracted.

"Um. Night, and..."

"Dude, that's like the third time you said 'night'", said Hanamura, impatient with this urban legend puzzle.

"It has to be turned off, the TV I mean, but other than that you got all of it," Satonaka said, throwing me a bone. "Glad to see _someone_ was listening." She glared at Hanamura for emphasis.

"Really?" said Hanamura, looking a little threatened but decided to say it anyway. "I'm kinda disappointed someone _was._"

* * *

"Hey, neighbour! Wait up!"

Seta turned around when I called him. He was already almost out of the court after he cleared the table for us, and Yosuke had some work come up just as we finished. I ran up to him, waving.

"Sorry me and Yukiko couldn't walk you home yesterday."

"Oh, no problem," Seta replied, slowing to a stop so I could catch up with him. He seemed to be waiting for me to talk, so I gathered he knew what I was getting at. I continued.

"Yeah, I'm heading straight home, so if you are too, I can... maybe... make good on yesterday?"

"Oh..." Seta looked a little nervous. Was this his first time walking home with a girl? He seemed perfectly fine when Yukiko was around, though... "Okay, sure thing."

"Great! Let's go!"

We both made our way out of Junes and into the shopping district. About partway there, I found out that he wasn't staying all that far from my own house. The twists and turns in all the roads and corners I had to take were tricky, but all in all I had a basic idea of where his street was. Eventually, we passed by the Konishi liquor store, which Seta pointed out after having met Saki-senpai earlier.

"Wow, you're pretty sharp," I said, teasing him.

"Only as much as I need to be," he said sheepishly. Since Yukiko isn't around, I'm less paranoid that he's gonna pull some nasty trick on me again, and putting that incident aside, he seemed to be a pretty okay guy.

Compared to the others, he _is_ much more... _low-key_ than most - and I wouldn't exactly say boring, but he's not really a conversation starter. Or a conversation carry-onner, for that matter. He mostly just seems to say what he needs to say. It's almost like he's thinking about what he wants people to hear.

I'm not sure what it'd be like, living your life picking what you say to others, not being able to say what's in your heart... I just say whatever's on my mind. There's pretty much only like... one millisecond between a thought entering my head and it exiting my mouth. Don't think, feel - that kinda stuff, right? I guess Yukiko's more like him in that respect then...?

Hey, speaking of Yukiko...

"Unfortunately, you don't have Yukiko as part of your entourage today. What a shame, huuhh?"

Seta just gave a "Hm" while smiling.

"Well, just think of me like your police escort, then!" I said, pointing my thumb to myself.

"You'll be protecting me, then?" replied Seta, looking like he's not buying it. "I think I'll need protection from _you,_ if anything. I've seen what you did to Hanamura."

Oh boy...

"I-I was just caught in the moment, that's all!" I said in a feeble bid to defend myself. I was kinda glad Yosuke didn't bring it up today; I was feeling pretty guilty about it. Usually I don't, I admit, but I guess knowing that Seta - just the "new guy" then - was watching the entire thing made me realise just how much abuse I put that guy through. Argh... Not that you'd hear it, Yosuke, but sorry. There, you happy, conscience? Now pipe down already!

"Must be a really big moment," he laughed.

"Ugh..."

"Anyway, it's a good thing Amagi isn't here," Seta added. I froze in my steps.

"Wha... What do you mean?"

I suddenly felt kinda nervous, which was when it hit me - Seta wasn't nervous earlier because of Yukiko in particular, or not necessarily because he never walked with a girl before - it was because we were _alone_. One and one. I felt my cheeks heat up a tiny bit, like last time. I wanted to slap myself to get it to go away, but obviously that would freak Seta out if I just hit myself in public for no reason.

"I mean..." Seta dragged on.

"Hm...?"

Yeah, what is it?!

"Had Amagi been here, it would have just been another thrashing for you," he finally said, smiling wider.

Why you little...

"Hey." I raised my voice. "If you think you can turn Yukiko against me, you've got another thing coming!" I crossed my arms as we kept walking. "We've been friends since forever!"

"But she already did turn against you," said Seta. "Yesterday. She looked like she was enjoying herself just fine at your expense."

"Why you...!" I nearly snapped at him, and he surprisingly looked pretty shocked and steered the topic away.

"Sorry. Stopping."

There's still plenty I don't know about this guy, it seems. Since neither our homes were still within reach, I took this as an opportunity to learn more. I remembered something he said yesterday, after he embarrassed me in front of Yukiko, he said this weird statement, in almost a whisper. The tone was different too. It didn't sound very... well, casual. More serious. I decided to use this as my first little piece of bait to fish out more to know about Seta.

"By the way, about yesterday..." I started the topic, which drew his attention.

"Hm?" He glanced at me, prompting to go on.

"Do you remember..." I pondered on whether I wanted to tell him everything I noticed, but I went with it anyway. "You said to me that you didn't like losing."

Silence. I was quick to add more details.

"You said it really quiet too, so only I could hear it, and you sounded pretty serious, like you really meant it... What's behind that?"

Seta was in thought for a while before speaking. "You read a lot more into it than I thought you would notice."

"So, are you saying I read too much than what was actually there?" I looked up at him. "Because I do that sometimes, you know? I'll just guess and think up of random things that might not be right at all..."

Seta kept silent momentarily. "I wouldn't exactly say you read too much, and you weren't wrong either..."

"So I was right?" I said, genuinely surprised.

By then, he was already looking uncomfortable enough for me to notice. I was about to tell him to forget I said it before his expression lightened into a smile.

"I guess you'll find out if you're persistent enough."

"Oh?" I smiled back. "Are you saying I'm not?"

"No, of course not," he replied. "Rather, it's not really worth knowing. It's a petty reason."

"Petty, huh? Then... doesn't that mean you can just tell me?"

"Well..." Seta trailed off. I waited for his answer.

"Some of the pettiest things in life are also the more personal ones," Seta finally said. "Agreed?"

"Well, yeah, I guess..." I said, trying to fully understand the thought. We left it at that for the moment, and by then we were already well out of the shopping district and into the neighbourhood, not far from where I estimated the path to our houses branch off.

I took the last few moments to add something. "Still."

"Still?" Seta replied, looking like he was enjoying the silence.

"You said I can still find out if I'm persistent, right? Maybe I'll do just that."

A laugh escaped Seta's lips, obviously underestimating me. "I don't think you'd want to do that. You'll be wasting your time."

"I'll do whatever I want with my time, thank you very much," I replied back.

He shook his head, smiling. "You won't like what you end up seeing."

"Well, I'll tell you something about myself." I stood in place, hand on my hips, causing him to turn back and look. "I'm a risk-taker."

He looked at me for a while. I was expecting a retort or some smart-aleck answer, but all he did was turn slightly, beckoning me to get walking again. During that, he just said:

"If you say so."

Seta kept on walking after that, which forced me to follow. We parted ways soon after. On the way home, I wondered about Seta's last statement. Why did he go with such a plain answer? It wasn't a retort, so maybe he meant it seriously. But then, wouldn't he have stopped me...?

There was still a lot I didn't know about this guy.

And maybe... just maybe... Even if only to prove him wrong... to prove that I was persistent enough to get past his cool exterior and finally get my sweet, sweet payback on him...

I wanted to find out more.


End file.
